ສົນທະນາ:ແຂວງໄຊຍະບູລີ

Sayaburi vs. Sainyabuli

Sorry that I write here in Engish, but my command of Lao language is nearly zero ;-)

I would like to ask a question about romanization of Lao (see en:Romanization of Lao): I know about the "problem", that some Asian peoples have with distinguishing the spoken ຣ and ລ. But never mind, I am wondering about the writing of the name of this article: ໄຊຍະບູລີ. Shouldn't it rather read ໄຊຍະບູຣີ, as you find more WWW-Sites with "Sayaburi" than with "Sayabuli"? I also know about the word "puri" in Sanskrit Language standing for 'Town or City' - names ending in '...buri' are quite common in Thailand. (The writing ໄຊຍະບູລີ with ລ seems to be a kind of "official" writing, as some Lao government sites also write it like that.)

So, my question is about the original name of this province, as I am searching for a general term of romanisation:

• Who "invented" the original name?
• Is it in older documents written with ຣ or ລ?
• I guess, that the name during French "occupation" was something like "Xaignabouli" or "Xaignabouri"?
• Is there somebody who can give a notation in IPA (see en:International Phonetic Alphabet)? I do not mean the name in any lokal pronunciation.

Another quite general question: in Thailand there are a couple of "different" Thai languages both written and spoken. I mean:

• Street Thai (ภาษาพูด, spoken Thai - [pʰaː-sǎː pʰûːt]),
• Elegant Thai (ภาษาเขียน, written Thai - [pʰaː-sǎː kʰǐan]),
• Official Thai (ภาษาราชการ, [pʰaː-sǎː râʧa-kaːn]) ...

Do you have something similar in Lao today?

Thank you. --Hdamm ໑໒:໔໖, ໒ ກັນຍາ ໒໐໐໗ (UTC)

Dear Hdamm. Your first question is interesting so I hope I can come up with some answer after doing some research. For your second question, yes there "are" spoken Lao, which are slightly different in terms of intonation (though most of the time this is just a parallel shift of tones) and words being used, from region to region. There are also written Lao which are also slightly different according to the time of your education of the language. However, there is no way to verify if a Lao word that you speak or write is offically correct as there is no published official or widely accepted Lao-Lao dictionary with large enough number of entries available so far. For your info, I also heard that current government is in the process to compile and publish one. Best regards. (Tuinui ໑໔:໔໑, ໒ ກັນຍາ ໒໐໐໗ (UTC))

Hi Tuinui. Thanks for that fast answer.

I'm really looking forward for your response to my "other question". Thank you. --Hdamm ໑໕:໒໖, ໒ ກັນຍາ ໒໐໐໗ (UTC)